The present invention relates to spermicidal agents and their use in biochemical analysis and in birth-control.
Despite the recent growth of research in mammalian reproductive biology, biochemical analysis of the spermatozoa has progressed relatively slowly, due to the lack of simple and satisfactorily mild agents and/or procedures for subcellular fragmentation, especially for head-tail cleavage in the sperm. In the past, head and tail separation was possible only under extreme conditions of change in pH, sonication (treatment with high frequency sound waves), digestion with enzymes, etc. Until now, chemically induced head-tail cleavage has been accompanied by varying degrees of structural damage to the subcellular organelles.
Conventional topical contraceptive compositions are not very satisfactory. Since the pharmacologically active agents which are known so far to destroy the spermatozoa also tend to detrimentally affect and irritate the vaginal mucosa, these agents cannot safely be applied in spermacidal amounts.